The Fellowship of the Ring: A guide for each member of the Fellowship

This relatively long guide will detail the abilities of each member of the Fellowship. Note that this guide will not have pictures to go along with each character. This guide will not cover variants (i.e. Frodo (Shire), Frodo and Sam (Orc Disguise), etc.)

Introduction

Welcome to my first guide, a relatively long list of the nine (not including variants) members of the Fellowship of the Ring. This will list all Fellowship members (again, not including variants), as well as their innate (racial) abilities and the abilities their tools give them. Note that this guide generally assumes you are past Moria (Pippin), Amon Hen (Frodo, Sam, Legolas), the Paths of the Dead (Aragorn), and before Cirith Ungol (Frodo), finished with the game, or in Freeplay mode. This also includes a final overview and opinions of each character.

Frodo Baggins

Ah, Frodo. You start off the (non-prologue) game with him, and you play as him in the last level. Regardless, this is a guide about his abilities, and they are rather useful. Outside of his sword Sting, which glows when Orcs/Uruks/Goblins are near, he also is able to go into small hatches, and has an Elven Cloak, which acts as camouflage, and the Phial of Galadriel, making him the second earliest source of light. Unfortunately, he also carries the One Ring, meaning if he approaches an alert Ringwraith, you'll have to tap whichever button you have bound to Special in order to progress. He also has a Mithril coat, meaning he can take double the hits.

Elven Cloak

The Elven Cloak is not excessively useful. It basically makes you invisible to enemies. However, it does have its uses, even though they are so situational. In the Dead Marshes, you have to use it in order to hide from the passing Ringwraith, as Sam's Elven Cloak was apparently left in the Lothlorien dry cleaners. The second use (that I know of) is in Cirith Ungol. When you come back to it in Freeplay mode, you can access a basement. This basement has Orcs manning spotlights near gates, and if they see you, the gates close and several Orcs come in an attempt to smash you into bits. However, if you have the Elven Cloak on, you can pass by without incident.
Replacements: Mithril Camouflage Tome.

Phial of Galadriel

The Phial is significantly more useful, being used quite a few times on Frodo's journey. It allows you to access dark areas, because for some reason all playable characters in Lego Lord of the Rings have crippling fear of the dark. Regardless, its use is required in many levels of story mode, from Taming Gollum to Mount Doom. In Freeplay, though, its use is slightly redundant as any wizard's staff, possibly some treasure items, and the Mithril Disco Phial all produce light, and the Mithril Disco Phial is infinitely more amusing.

Replacements: Wizard staves, possibly some treasure items, the epic Mithril Disco Phial.

Final Overview and Opinion

Until you get a treasure that produces light and a Mithril Camouflage Tome, Frodo is irreplaceable. Even after you do, he still remains useful simply because of the convenience of having both a light source and a way to remain hidden in the inventory simultaneously without having to go through the treasure list. I still find him likeable, if only because of convenience.
Rating: 7.5/10

Samwise Gamgee (Sam)

Sam is the other (non-prologue) character you start with, as well as the other character you end the game with. He has the innate Hobbit ability to go through small hatches, as well as a frying pan, spade, Elven Rope, and a Tinderbox. He is actually one of the more useful characters, as his frying pan is unique unless you can access Rosie Cotton, and the Tinderbox recipe is only obtainable on the second to last level.

Frying Pan

Sam's trusty Frying Pan is his answer to a sword, and with an added bonus: he can use it to cook. Now, cooking isn't THAT prevalent, but is required in some levels, such as Weathertop, and sometimes can be used to access bonuses.
Replacements: Rosie Cotton's Frying Pan.

Spade

The Spade is Lego Lord of the Ring's answer to the shovels of previous games. It also allows Sam to grow plants, in order to either progress or gain riches. You can use it on either small patches of dirt studs with dust swirling around them (digging), or small patches of dirt studs with part of a fish sticking out (planting).
Replacements:Tom Bombadil, Mithril Trowel.

Elven Rope

The Elven Rope can be used either as a rope to climb, or as a way to pull certain items. You can use it when you are close enough to an orange hook (not an orange handle: those are pullable by strong characters).
Replacements: Mithril Rope, Toy Snake.

Tinderbox

The Tinderbox allows you to set stuff on fire. It can be used when you see a brown pad near plants/wood.
Replacements: Mithril Tinderbox, Mithril Fireworks, Magma Rock

Final Overview and Opinion

Sam normally wouldn't be that useful, as you are required to get a replacement to the spade, the Elven Rope you can easily find a replacement for, and the Frying Pan just isn't that useful, but as the Tinderbox isn't easily replaced, he still remains useful, albeit rather grudgingly. I still like him, though, just for the novelty of beating people into a pulp with a Frying Pan.
Rating: 6/10

Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took (Merry and Pippin)

Considering how these two are so close together, and how their abilities are rather minor, I felt it would be nice to put these two in their own section. Merry and Pippin are both hobbits, so they can both access small hatches, and they each have their own ability.

Fishing Rod (Merry)

Fishing is Merry's unique ability. This allows him to.. well... fish. This may seem minor, but it is required at least once, and can net you extra studs if you're patient.
Replacements: Gollum, Fishing Rod (treasure), Mithril Fishing Rod.

Bucket

Pippin can place the bucket on his head to increase his resilience, making him more than three times better at invading lawns! In all seriousness, he is able to fill it with water to put out fire.
Replacements: Wooden Bucket, Mithril Bottomless Bucket

Final Overview and Opinion

Sadly, Merry and Pippin sorta suck, because you're required to get treasures that make them obsolete. On the plus side, at least you don't get their replacements THAT early.
Rating: 1.5/10

Olorin/Gandalf the Grey/White/Orange

Gandalf the Grey/White is the first wizard you can access. He can use his staff to move magical Lego objects, as well as illuminate dark areas. Glamdring may or may not glow when orcs are near.

An Old Man's Walking Stick Gandalf's Staff

Gandalf's staff is quite versatile. Its (relatively) unique use is that it can cast Wingardium Leviosa move magical (purple) Lego objects. More mundane uses include illumination, setting Ringwraiths alight, building objects with magic, and bludgeoning.

Replacements: Other Staves (All), Phials/other light sources (illumination), torches (lighting Ringwraiths), almost anything else in the game that you can hold (bludgeoning).

Final Overview and Opinion

Gandalf can illuminate dark areas, as well as use magic for moving magical blocks. Considering he's the first wizard you get, as well as the least expensive(free), he's VERY useful.
Rating: 9/10

Aragorn II Elessar/Estel/Thorongil/Wingfoot/Strider/Longshanks/Elessar Telcontar/etc. (Aragorn)

Aragorn (or the man of an absurd amount of names) seems, at first glance, to be one of the more bland members of the Fellowship, but is unique in two primary ways: first, he is the only one who can follow tracks via dropped items, and is one of few who is able to break Morgul Bricks with Anduril, Flame of the West.

Tracking

Tracking is an ability COMPLETELY unique to Aragorn, something rare for this game. There are neither any characters nor any items that can replicate this. It basically is a little minigame where you follow a green trail of footprints in order to find a person, treasure, or another item where you can do the exact same thing (Yay?).

Morgul Bricks

After the opening cutscene of Paths of the Dead, Aragorn will have Anduril in place of his old sword. Anduril is unique in that it can break Morgul Bricks, which you WILL have to do in every story mode mission after you get it.
Replacements: Narsil (Elendil), Broken Narsil (Isildur), Sauron's Mace (guess who).

Final Overview and Opinion

Aragorn is irreplaceable, no matter what. Even though Isildur, Elendil, and Sauron all are able to break Morgul bricks as well, only he can track characters/items. The tracking, to be honest, sucks, but Anduril makes this marginally more bearable.
Rating: 5/10

Legolas Greenleaf

Legolas is technically the third elf you can access in the game, but he is the second actually added to your character roster. He is also the first character with a bow added to your roster. His innate abilities as an elf are that he can jump higher than other characters, can swing from poles/arrows on arrow slots, can stand on deep snow, and can actually stand on tightropes instead of hanging on them like a derp.

Elven abilities

As I just mentioned, his abilities are higher jumping capabilities (leaf markings show where you have to use this), swinging from poles/arrows on arrow slots, standing on deep snow, and standing on tightropes.
Replacements: Mithril Spring Boots(higher jumping), Mithril Gloves(swinging), Surefooted Greaves(standing on deep snow/tightropes), any elf(all of the above).

Bow of the Galadhrim

The Bow of the Galadhrim is, as far as I know, identical to a normal bow. This means it can put arrows in empty arrow slots, hit targets, and, everybody's favorite, make orcs into porcupines.
Replacements: Literally any other bow or character with a bow.

Final Overview and Opinion

As your second elf added to your roster and your first character with a bow, Legolas is irreplaceable, at least until you get another elf that has a bow. He's still free and easy to get, though, which puts him high in my regard.
Rating: 8.75/10

Gimli

Gimli is your first dwarf that you access, and is the first to use an axe. Gimli is able to access hatches in the same way as hobbits, and is able to use his axe to destroy cracked Lego bricks.

Axe

Gimli's axe, as mentioned, can destroy cracked Lego bricks. He either swings his axe around to destroy cracked bricks on walls, or jumps into the air and slams down to destroy them on the floor. At times, a taller character has to toss him at cracked Lego bricks that are out of his reach.
Replacements: Gloin/Blacksmith (all), treasure axes (destroying cracked bricks on walls or on the floor).

Final Overview and Opinion

As you can't access another dwarf until you finish the game, Gimli is irreplaceable for most of the game. This, obviously, puts him high on the rating scale.
Rating: 8.75/10

Boromir, Captain of Gondor

Boromir is, frankly, the most bland out of any member of the Fellowship. He has literally no abilities that you need to use in order to progress through the game. For the sake of completeness, however, I'll list the two of his semi-unique abilities.

Dinner Plate Shield

Boromir apparently passed through a diner in Rivendell, and decided to pocket one of the larger plates to use as a shield. In all seriousness, however, the shield basically blocks attacks. That's seriously it. Sad, but completely true.
Replacements: Look, there are tons of characters with shields. I'm not even going to bother to try to list them all. I would almost definitely miss one. As for treasure items, I'm not entirely sure some of the ones labelled as "Shield" even work. I know the Mithril Shield works as a shield, though.

Vuvuzela Horn of Gondor

The Horn of Gondor makes all nearby characters hold their ears in pain. That would be useful, if it wasn't for the fact any allies are also deafened. It could be useful if a character with a ranged attack was out of range, I suppose. No true replacements, though the Mithril Music Horn and the Mithril Disco Phial have a similar but far more amusing effect.

Final Opinion and Overview

As I stated at the beginning of this section, Boromir is the least useful and the least interesting (ability-wise) out of all of the Fellowship, which really is a shame considering his character.
I'll give him a two for effort, at least.
Rating: 2/10

End

This is the end of my guide for the Fellowship members. Sorry for this possibly being a bit bland at times, but I might come back and refurbish it. Anyways, feel free to leave your feedback, though I might delete it if it is excessively negative.

[monty]

pippin and merry:100/10 WHAT ABOUT SECOND BREAKFAST

[Epic Dovahkiin]

for anyone who didn't know what was meant by "blocking attacks"

[Epic Dovahkiin]

with shields (i'll use xbox controls but its the same button as the treasure) press b and any time an enemy hits you with melee they are pushed back(don't know if it does anything for arrows though

[garfield gaming]

could you do a guide about each of the characters variants?

[Operative Ohio]

NOICE



btw gandalf and boromir's ones are... humorous

[The Baller 2.0]

good job mate

[xajika]

Nice

[Khernel]

Nice

[websanya]

thanks! =) nice guide

[Sotergarm]

Lol I like how in Morgul brick breaking replacements you typed Saurons mace (guess who)